Wooden puzzle and general cutting advice

[mriehm]

My apologies, total novice here...
I am wanting to start a business creating wooden "jigsaw" puzzles. Simple children's puzzles for the most part, but a serious business venture. I am an experienced woodshop owner. Probably cut out of 1/4 or 3/8" baltic birch.
Could someone direct me to detailed info. related to the manufacture of such puzzles.
General questions:
Are laser cutters the way to go, or is there a better method?
What are the best brands of cutters when extreme accuracy is not
necessary, but reliability, service, and competitive cost are?
General methods of manufacture, i.e. how do you keep the paint from
burning off during cutting, is it better to paint after cutting, vacuum hold
downs, best materials, best laser size, etc.

Also, available training, books, etc. that are available.
If there is a place on this forum that has these basic answers archived, could someone please direct me to it.
Thank-you kindly in advance,
mike

[bisjoe]

Years ago when I had young kids I made wooden puzzles with a scroll saw. Now that I have a laser the kids are grown but no grandkids yet, but I have done a lot of cutting of baltic, mostly 1/4". On my 45 watt Epilog it cuts beautifully though leaving some char on the edges that wipes off. If you want to paint first you just apply signmaker's transfer tape after the paint is dry then cut. The paint will remain perfect.

You'd want at least 40 watts, and a work area big enough to handle the puzzle size. Mine is 12x24.

This is 1/4 Baltic Birch laser cut, then I used the laser to engrave the surface to fit the veneer which is also laser cut.

While I am happy with the performance of my Epilog it's one of the more expensive lasers. Others of similar features include Universal, Xenetech, and Pinnacle.

[Pete Stenabaugh]

Originally Posted by mriehm My apologies, total novice here... I am wanting to start a business creating wooden "jigsaw" puzzles. Simple children's puzzles for the most part, but a serious business venture. I am an experienced woodshop owner. Probably cut out of 1/4 or 3/8" baltic birch. Could someone direct me to detailed info. related to the manufacture of such puzzles. General questions: Are laser cutters the way to go, or is there a better method? What are the best brands of cutters when extreme accuracy is not necessary, but reliability, service, and competitive cost are? General methods of manufacture, i.e. how do you keep the paint from burning off during cutting, is it better to paint after cutting, vacuum hold downs, best materials, best laser size, etc. Also, available training, books, etc. that are available. If there is a place on this forum that has these basic answers archived, could someone please direct me to it. Thank-you kindly in advance, mike

Mike, here is a web link to a company that sells software, used with Corel to make jig saw puzzles. You can download the demo software, good for 7 days. Use it a lot for 7 days, and save some money. This will allow you to create only the cut lines for the puzzle pieces, and save them as .dxf files. You then bring them into corel, autocad or whatever to cut the puzzle out. You only need to apply the puzzle picture to the material you are going to cut. This will do puzzles up to 2500 pieces, and down to about 9 pieces or so, and there are several options that you can apply for different types of puzzle pieces.

Pete.